Word: transferals
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...clearly not the incentive that had originally attracted Harvard to the Ptashne case. Despite this discrepancy, the administration first introduced the Faculty to the DNA company proposal in a nine-page, single-spaced discussion memo prepared by Daniel Steiner '54, general counsel to the University, and entitled, "Technology Transfer at Harvard University." Beginning with some talk of technology transfer in general, the memo equated the process with the specific Ptashne venture. Ending with a list of pros and cons concerning the proposal, the memo reinforced a widespread fallacy which sources say continues to persist: that the drawbacks of the Ptashne...
...confusion generated by the Steiner memo was exacerbated by a general Faculty ignorance of technology transfer. "I really knew nothing about it," Rosovsky--from whom Steiner says he "benefited" in a blurb at the end of the memo--says, adding, "I tried to understand the principles." Professors also admit that the issue seemed to befuddle many of their colleagues when it was discussed at a full Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting in late October. And because the Ptashne case and not technology transfer--which affects more than scientific research--seemed paramount, non-scientists were not particularly excited about...
...Steiner begins. "I tried to set forth the problem and raise the issues in as straight forward a manner as possible, but I could readily understand why the Faculty members..."A pause. "I don't know how many read the memo." Bok justifies formally introducing the issue of technology transfer to the Faculty simultaneously with the Ptashne case by pointing out the problems with making a decision without Faculty discussion and then bringing the general issue to the body ex post facto. "I suppose one could have said something about it two years ago, but I didn't know about...
...professors would not make good business bedfellows. When he announced the breaking off of the engagement (speaking for the Harvard Corporation, which had rubber stamped the president's decision), Bok attempted to untangle the dead Ptashne issue from what he considered a number of thriving, viable technology transfer ideas. Saying that the obstacles in the Ptashne case were surmountable, Bok added that "the participation of Harvard and its professors in commercial ventures can be structured in ways that are wholly consistent with its academic values. If so, the University might obtain a badly needed source of additional funding to strengthen...
...with the exception of a Faculty self-examination of its policies on conflict of interest the events of last fall have not incited any novel ideas concerning technology transfer. "My impression is that no progress has been made," Rosovsky says. Harvey C. Brooks, Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy, ventures that the Ptashne case may have had a chilling effect on the discussion of technology transfer in general. "I am a little disappointed that the discussion hasn't continued," he says. "I was sorry to see generic issues settled in the contest of a particular case...